Desperately need help

[daeraizover]

Hey all, I just joined on the wagon to create some scented candles and hopefully grow it into a small business in the future. I have watched lots of video and tutorials on how to find wax weights and different formulas and such. But even thru hours of research there are still some questions that I was hoping you all can just provide clarity on.

  

1. when using the water weight to wax weight method, is there really any harm weighing the water in the LB:OZ as opposed to just OZ? the only diff I'm seeing is that the LB:OZ metric rounds the oz result while the OZ metric leaves the oz result with decimals.

  

For example: 5.14oz LB:OZ -> 5.1oz OZ -> 5.14oz

  

Another example: 4.27oz LB:OZ -> 4.2oz OZ -> 4.27oz

  

2) it's been said in some cases that when you get your weight results you should round up, other cases said its OK to round down or up. Based on the community experience which claim seems to be right? Does the claim of rounding also apply to when weighing water to find the wax weight? Also when rounding do you guys round to the nearest 10th or nearest 100th?

  

For example: 225.34g wax weight

  

To near 10th -> 225.3g To nearest 100th -> 225g

  

3) when making labels for the finished candles, I understand it's necessary to put the weight/oz of the wax in the candle vessel, on the label. Just for clarity are you supposed to put the actual net wt on the label or is it OK to round that number as well

  

For example:

  

Net wt is 4.87 oz Can I put on the label 4.9oz rounded to nearest 10th Can I out on the label 5.0oz rounded to nearest 100th Or should it jist be the actual net wt 4.87oz

[TallTayl]

Welcome aboard! 
 

when measuring ingredients, “Aim small, miss small.”. The more accurate you are with measurements, the easier you will be able to scale up/down with batches.  Any miscalculations will be magnified when scaling up. For bath product I was already in the habit of using grams.  For small candle batches, I use grams. For larger batches I use oz. out of habit. I sometimes catch myself and use kilos as they are easier to calculate and double check my work than oz. 

 

When rounding, I try not to.  This is where grams come in handy. Unless working with tiny amounts, as with cosmetics where 1/10th gram is usually close enough, whole grams for candles is more accurate.

 

Labeling laws are pretty clear, your net weight of the container contents must contain AT LEAST the stated amount on the label. It can be more, but never less. Using your example, the labeling laws would require your label to round down to ensure all of your finished candles weigh at least what is stated. If I had a 4.87 oz product, I would weigh a large batch to ensure this was the lowest, then label more like 4.5oz to be 100% sure the customer receives what is stated. If you fill by a line on the container, you will find some waxes and fragrance combos to be less dense, and will weigh less in the finished candles.  Given how many people have measured the length of a subway foot long, found it to be shy of the foot,  and won in court, why risk it?

[daeraizover]

Thank you for your fast and immediate response. Just to make sure I'm clear on it can you verify if I'm correct on the following based on your response:

 

so it's better to measure by using the OZ unit. And whatever my wax weight comes out in grams, I shouldn't round it. So for example if the weight in grams is 221.34g I should leave it at 221g and if it was 456.76g I should leave it at 456g?

 

Also for labels are you saying that whatever the weight is, my label should be under that? For example if my TW is 7.67oz I can put my label at 7.57oz, or if it was 4.36oz I can put it at 4.26oz?

[TallTayl]

When measuring in grams, the rounding is so slight with candles that rounding errors won’t amount to all that much.  when measuring in ounces, rounding will be more error prone, if that makes sense.  All of this is really relative to the batch size. If you’re making one 2 oz candle the rounding errors will be significant. If making 100 2 oz candles the rounding won’t matter much at all. 
 

with labeling, look up Marie Gale. She has written several books about labeling with a slant toward the cosmetics side, but the rules still apply for weights and measures. 
 

i would not be so granular as to go the partial decimal places. In  many countries weights should be presented on the labels in both grams and ounces. I’ve never noticed any ounces presented beyond the tenth of an ounce unless the items are sold in really teensy amounts. 

[Crafty1_AJ]

I have a net weight of 8.5 oz listed on my soy candles, but I actually pour 8.6 oz by weight into the jars just in case.